About This Book

We all rejoice in the simple absurdities, funny habits, and crazy antics of our cats. They make us smile every day, but sometimes they really outdo themselves. You will love reading all the heartwarming, inspirational, and hysterical stories in this book. We know after reading the stories you'll say, "I can't believe a cat did that!"

More from Chicken Soup for the Soul

Inspired By Chicken Soup for the Soul: I Can’t Believe My Cat Did That! by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Jennifer Quasha

"The cat is the only animal which accepts the comforts but rejects the bondage of domesticity." This quote by Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon is a perfect description of what makes cats unique. Although cats’ ability to cuddle makes us love them, it is their fierce independence that makes them completely irresistible. The contributors to Chicken Soup for the Soul: I Can’t Believe My Cat Did That! recount countless tales of this quirky self-reliance. Here are some tips to channeling your inner cat, so you too can be cuddly, yet admirably independent.

1. Be a free spirit. Mary Z. Smith couldn’t understand how the animals her sister had in her house kept getting free from their cages. Finally, her family realized the culprit: their new Siamese cat, Edward, had been unlocking his cage and the others’ late at night! "It was a midnight menagerie as the animals celebrated their freedom from captivity," Mary writes. No cage could contain Edward’s free spirit.

2. Tackle the impossible. When Saralee Perel suffered a spinal cord injury, her cat, Eddie, taught her a valuable lesson: nothing is impossible. Eddie never let any obstacle stop him from using whatever household object he wanted as his toy, not even multiple lock changes on a medicine cabinet. "I learned that the word ‘impossible’ was nothing other than a word," Saralee says. "A word that only carried meaning if I allowed it to. Eddie believed nothing was impossible. And by watching him, nothing was."

3. Learn to trade. Cats can cleverly navigate any situation, sometimes even out smarting their owners! Kimber Krochmal’s keys had been lost for a month and she had given up on ever finding them. One day her cat, Luna, wanted to play with a piece of string Kimber was using for a craft project. Kimber told her that she could have the string if Luna found her keys. "A few minutes later she returned with my keys in her mouth and dropped them at my feet. I stared wide-eyed as she jumped up on my desk, grabbed the leather string, and darted off," Kimber writes. "It was almost as if she were saying, ‘Trade you.’"

4. Fear nothing. Garrett Bauman’s deaf kitten, Ozzie, didn’t let anything stop him while protecting his owners from a bear on their porch. Ozzie flung himself onto their screen door and howled at the bear, scaring it away. Garrett writes, "He yodeled and gurgled in his throat and translated to something like: ‘I will eat your face and spit out your beady black eyes!”" The brave little kitten was fearless, even in the face of adversity.

5. Go after what you want. Elizabeth Atwater couldn’t believe it when her cat Bandit stole a kitten from the neighbor’s litter. She told him over and over that they didn’t need a new kitten, but Bandit kept bringing one into their house. Finally Bandit just decided to stay over with the kitten instead of bringing it home. Elizabeth says, "When he saw me, I could swear his eyes narrowed in defiance. If I would not let him bring the kitten home with him, he would stay with the kitten." Bandit never gave up on what he wanted so Elizabeth relented, and Bandit got to bring his kitten home permanently.